Culdee Fell and Others
by bbll22
Summary: The Culdee Fell Railway is just as important as the Fat Controller's and these stories will demonstrate that very well indeed. Included here then are the stories 'Tap Tap' and 'Catherine the Goat'. I hope you enjoy and please do review!
1. Tap Tap

Lee's Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

Stories

**Tap Tap**

It was a stormy night on the Culdee Fell Railway, and the engines all made their way to the shed to get some rest. Culdee was last into the shed when he finally pulled in. He pulled up next to his coach, Catherine, who had been asleep for a little while now, but as he reversed in, his rear right wheel caught a twig and it snapped, very loudly. This immediately woke Catherine up, and she wasn't happy now.

"Oi noisy wheels!" she exclaimed "Some of us are trying to get to sleep!"

"Sorry" replied Culdee. He then stopped in his place, and tried to get off to sleep, but he couldn't. He didn't know why, he couldn't explain it, and now since he'd woken Catherine up, she couldn't get off to sleep either.

"Thanks Culdee!" said Catherine with some sarcasm

"Sorry" replied Culdee once again. They then just looked around the shed as the time moved on further into the night...

The clock on the side of the shed wall ticked very loudly as the night drew on. Culdee and Catherine just looked at it, then looked away, and then looked back to see how much time had passed. It wasn't a lot. They even had a game of guess how long a minute was. So when they thought a minute had passed, they said "Time!". Catherine was extremely close with her guess while Culdee was very far out. They played this game for a good while, and then they noticed the clock had reached Midnight. The clock dinged as it reached that hour mark and almost at the same moment, thunder roared across the land and lightning flickered in full view of the shed window. This made Culdee and Catherine scared, they immediately closed their eyes and hoped the storm would now be gone, but it didn't, it carried on. It was extremely loud and yet none of the other engines in the shed woke up, Culdee and Catherine were still the only one's awake. Then, the storm died down, Culdee sighed with relief and Catherine opened her eyes again. The shed was now in almost silence as the clock was the only thing making a noise. The very scared duo then quickly decided that being scared that much had made them very tired. It hadn't, they just wanted to go to sleep again so that they wouldn't see the storm at full force again. So they yet again closed their eyes and pretended to go to sleep, except they actually did, much to their surprise.

Silence had now fallen in the shed as the ticking clock had stopped suddenly as 2:20am. All the engines and coaches were asleep and it has seemingly returned to a normal night. Then, all of a sudden, a tapping noise was heard. Tap, tap it went on the window of the shed. Tap tap it went again, and again, and again. It kept getting louder and louder and then one big tap was heard. Culdee immediately woke up.

"What in blazes?" he said in astonishment. His utterance soon woke up Catherine, and again she wasn't happy.

"Culdee!" she exclaimed "What is it now? Can't I get any sleep tonight?" she then asked quickly. Culdee didn't reply, so Catherine tried to get back off to sleep again, but then the tapping on the window started once more. Tap tap it went with a loud echo. Catherine woke up very quickly.

"What was that?" she quickly questioned in a loud voice. Her statement then woke up Ernest, Alaric and Eric.

"Catherine!" they all said at once "We're trying to get some sleep, please be quiet!"

"I would, if that loud tapping noise wasn't waking us all up!" she then replied.

"What tapping noise?" questioned Alaric. Silence then fell as Catherine didn't reply, she wanted them to hear the tapping for themselves. It soon started. Tap, tap, tap it went on the window. It was extremely loud now, and it had now woken up Wilfred. He didn't know how to react and neither did anyone else.

"Is someone trying to get us?" questioned Shane Dooiney as he woke up suddenly.

"We don't know..." replied Eric. Silence then fell yet again, and all the engines and coaches looked on at each other as the terrifying tapping noise continued...

None of the engines knew what to do as the tapping noise continued throughout the night. The fact the clock had stopped wasn't helping them, their only real way of taking it off their minds was now gone, so they had to cope with it, but the tapping noise once again got louder. The engines shrieked as it made a loud tap and the coaches screamed as it went even louder. The shed was certainly not in silence, but then Wilfred noticed that in the window, the sun was starting to rise.

"Oh good!" he said "It might go away now if daytime is approaching!" The tapping then did. The engines and coaches all sighed with relief, but as the sun shone through and broke the night sky, the engines realised what was causing the tapping noise.

"A branch!" said Eric in bemusement. Indeed it was a branch, but it was still attached to a tree. The storm in the night had obviously caused the tree to fall out of it place and lean against the shed, but a stray branch lay against the window, so when the wind blew in the night, the branch tapped against the window. Everyone was embarrassed with how they were scared with something so simple as a tree branch, but then they heard footsteps approaching the shed, and heard the voice of Mr. Walter Richards, the railway's manager. So, they all decided to pretend to go back off to sleep. Mr. Walter Richards opened the shed door and saw everyone was asleep.

"Blimey! Their all asleep!" he said is surprise "I'd have thought that storm would had kept them awake!"


	2. Catherine the Goat

Lee's Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

Stories

**Catherine the Goat**

Catherine the Coach is the proudest coach on the Culdee Fell Railway. She loves going up the steep, steep hill and then returning down the flat land. Passengers love her for her constant awareness of passenger safety and Culdee enjoys being with her purely because she is a good friend, and on this occasion, their friendship was definitely needed...

It was a dark, harsh morning when Catherine and Culdee were to take their first passengers of the day. Since the 'High-up Hotel' opened near the Summit a few years ago, many tourists to Sodor enjoy going there purely for seeing the spectacle from their Hotel Rooms out into the Valleys and Hills. However, on this morning Catherine was not at all in the mood for taking passengers. She had barely had any sleep the night before after a spring had randomly broke and left her with a slight tilt. Mr. Richards, the Railway's Manager deemed her safe to carry on with duties, although she would have to take extra care, something which Culdee didn't look pleased with.  
"Extra care?" he said. "I'm careful enough as it is! Its just going up a hill, that's it!"  
"Hmmm..." agreed Catherine with a sudden surge in pain, but as she always does, she carries on regardless. Soon, they were going up the Mountainous Railway when all of a sudden, one of the passengers realised something.  
"I've left my Bag back at the Station! We've got to go back!" they said very abruptly. Catherine didn't agree.  
"Well that's your fault..." she scolded. "You have to sort this out yourself." but a nearby worker had heard the news and telephoned Mr. Richards who thought it was best if they returned to the Station, and then started all over again. Catherine squealed with pain as the train slowly lurched back. It clattered and it clopped against the rickety lines and Catherine and her broken spring were not enjoying this at all.  
"We're almost there!" shouted Culdee as a means of cheering her up.  
"It's not enough!" she protested though. Then as if enough hadn't been done, the passenger who had left their Bag soon discovered it under their seat.  
"Oh, would you look at that! It was here all along! Sorry!" they beamed. Catherine couldn't believe it and then they soldiered on once more with a resentment for that one specific passenger.

On the way up with a deadly silence onboard Catherine due to the earlier mix-up, Catherine looked out on the fields beside the rails and soon saw Farmer Tierney's Farm with a wide range in Animals. There were many clucking Chickens, some extremely filthy Pigs, a few Cows grazing endlessly on the not so green grass, but the most noticeable of all Farmer Tierney's Animals was a lonesome Goat in a section of the field all on its own. To Catherine, the Goat looked angry and always had done, and it never looked like it would be a happy animal.  
"Look Mummy!" said one of the child passengers onboard Catherine. "That Goat is as happy as this Carriage!"  
"Not at all then..." smirked another passenger, but Catherine could hear. However she kept in her anger until eventually they arrived at the Summit where the Hotelier was awaiting his newest guests.  
"Thankyou Culdee and Catherine!" he beamed. "Once again, your help cannot be thanked enough! You keep this Hotel running, so well done!" Culdee blushed with embarrassment but Catherine once again groaned as the pain of the broken spring worsened. Culdee's driver and fireman oiled her to ease the pain while they rested, but it was still no use.  
"How can Mr. Richards think that I'm suitable for work?" moaned Catherine. "I can barely move without pain!"  
"We're almost done..." sighed Culdee. "Then you can rest for the remainder of the day. I can take someone else!" and with that, Catherine put the pain behind her and coped as Culdee pulled her down the Mountainous rails once again. The pain wasn't so bad this time, but it was still too much, and then as they passed Farmer Tierney's farm, the angry Goat looked on solemnly at Catherine and slowly crunched a bit of grass it had in its mouth. Catherine still didn't like the Goat, and would never plan to.

The next day, workmen had temporarily fixed Catherine's broken spring and she felt much better. She was still a bit wobbly, but it was most definitely an improvement that was welcomed. Culdee noticed how much better she was feeling too and that made him feel happy aswell. They went up the hill with great ease and came down it with similar ease aswell. It was almost as if they were back to normal, and Catherine loved that feeling. However, on the way up with more guests for the 'High-up Hotel', Catherine began to wobble a lot again. She was creaking a lot too, and she began to feel pain once again.  
"Ooh!" she cried and then it happened. PING went the temporary spring across the air and it came down with a very distinct THUD.  
"What was that?" asked Culdee who only saw a grey flash pass by in his near distance. Then a distinct rattling noise came from Catherine she began to wobble again. She creaked and croaked and the passengers on board felt very odd indeed.  
"Hold on, dear!" cried one.  
"I'm trying!" came the reply, but no matter how much they held on, it was no use. Soon, they arrived and were thankful to be leaving. Catherine had now definitely had enough.  
"Take me down! NOW!" she commanded to Culdee and he obliged. The rickety rails pummeled Catherine's wobbly exterior and she creaked louder than ever before, but then both she and Culdee noticed a severed problem. The fence to Farmer Tierney's farm was broken next to where the angry Goat usually stayed. They stopped to see where it was, and then they heard it. Catherine was now staring the angry Goat in the face...

"Er...Mr. Goat..." began Catherine. "I'm in some pain, so if you leave right now, I would appreciate it!" but the Goat wouldn't listen. It moved to Catherine's side and then charged at her. It bumped her hard and then proceeded to do it again, and again. Culdee and his crew were powerless to stop the Goat. They tried shooing it away, but it then tried to get them! It soon returned to Catherine and bashed her even more. Her side was dented and the paint was being scraped off her. Catherine was brave and withstood the pain as the bashing, angry Goat continued, and then a whistle was heard. It wasn't a trains, it was Farmer Tierney's!  
"Come along now!" he called to the Goat, and it obliged immediately. Catherine was thankful and as soon as Farmer Tierney and the Goat were out of view, Culdee pulled her down to the station and then onto the sheds where she could rest.  
"Phew..." she sighed. "It's over, finally!"

Early next morning, Culdee's driver came to find Catherine who had a little note in his hand. It read: "Catherine, you were very brave, well done. Farmer Tierney and Fred."  
"Who's Fred?" wondered Catherine. She soon found out later that day when she passed Farmer Tierney's field. There she saw the angry Goat looking very happy, but she also saw a name-tag emblazoned with 'Fred' on it on the Goat.  
"That's who Fred is!" chuckled Culdee.  
"Indeed..." smiled Catherine. "I still don't like him though..." she said silently to herself.


End file.
